Kuldip Nayar on Narasimha Rao

If the report by TOI about Kuldip Nayar’s autobiography is right, then it will be a bestseller:

Yet another book has levelled an allegation that P V Narasimha Rao had connived at the demolition of Babri Masjid, claiming that the late Prime Minister had sat in a puja when the kar sevaks began pulling it down and rose only when it was over.

The charge relating to the demolition on Dec 6, 1992 has been made by eminent journalist Kuldip Nayar in his soon-to-be released autobiography “Beyond the Lines” being brought out by Roli Books.

“My information was that Rao had connived at the demolition. He sat at puja when the kar sevaks began pulling down the mosque and rose only when the last stone had been removed”

“Madhu Limaye (late socialist leader) later told me that during the puja, Rao’s aide whispered in his ears that the masjid had been demolished. Within seconds, the puja was over”, he said in a chapter on “Narasimha Rao’s Government” in the book.

P V Ranga Rao, son of the late Prime Minister, however strongly dismissed the claim as “unbelievable and untenable”.

“It is unbelievable and untenable…There is no way father would have done so. He was in anguish when the Babri structure was demolished, for he loved Muslims for years and was their ardent supporter. He told us many times that it should not have happened”, Rao said reacting to the reported claim of the late socialist leader Madhu Limaye.

At this point one can neither ask Rao nor Limaye about the incident. However, a question that arises is why a journalist would hide a fact like this until he writes his autobiography.